Наумлюк, М. В. Региональная литература Кольского Севера XX-XXI века в аспекте идентичности и мультикультурности. Страницы истории и современность / М. В. Наумлюк ; М-во образования и науки Рос. Федерации, Мурм. гос. гуманитар. ун-т. - Мурманск, 2013.

gloom of black December nights”, “foul wind”, “the sun on gold larches and as pens”, “breezy cold air”. Poetically representing the North, London chooses steady characteristics: Space, Time, Temperature, Whiteness, Silence. In a special way London draws Space. It is motionless, boundless, silent, and has psychological characteristics. Crafter the gold miner (“In the Far Country”) thinks: “Everything in the North land had that crushing effect, - the absence of life and motion, the darkness, the infinite peace of the brooding land; the ghastly silence, which made the echo of each heart-'oeat a sacrilege, the solemn forest which seemed a guard and awful inexpressible something which neither word, nor thought could compass”. Sometimes the heroes recognize the northern Space as very ancient and the mythical Universe. Nevertheless, this space is full of movement. Its heroes, gold diggers, cover hundreds of kilometers. They are similar to ancient Vikings. Lon don introduces a legend of Great Northern Path along the entire Arctic coast. This ancient path is known to every reindeer breeder and every hunter. It is a kind of bridge across the limitless ice fields, hummocks through the endless po lar night, awful winds and cold. In many stories of London self-confident gold miners become prisoners of the boundless space. Sometimes they perish, losing reference points. London draws Space of the North as irrational, cosmic and dif ficult for ordinary people to understand. The theme of the Time looks the same. The Time is eternal, it consists not of hours and minutes, but of special signs. In the story “The Life Law” old man- Indian Koskush left a tribe to die, makes a fire and knows that “an armful of dry twigs is his life measure now”. For example, fifty degrees below zero is a mark of one’s gold miner death. Time, Space, Temperature create the main image of London’s Northern stories - the White Silence. White Silence is a philosophical and poetical alle gory of the Nature itself, God, Eternity, Destiny, Life, Death, Immortality: “Na ture has many tricks wherewith she convince man of his finity, - the ceaseless flow of tides, the fury of the storm, the shock of the earth quake... - bat the most tremendous, the most stupefying of all is the passive phase of White Si lence. All movement ceases, the sky clears, the heavens are as brass: the slight est whisper seems sacrilege the man becomes timid, affrighted at the sound of his voice... Strange thoughts arise unsummoned, and the mystery of all things strives for utterance. And a fear of death, of God, of the universe comes over him. It is not pleasant to be alone with painful thoughts in the White Silence. The silence of gloom is merciful, shrouding one as with protection and breathing a thousand intangible sympathies; but the bright White Silence, clear and cold under steely skies, is pitiless”. The standards of usual life are cancelled in the center of the White Silence. Old man Taruoter goes mad in snow captivity and comes back to a condition of a primitive person. Nameless hero of the story “To make a fire”, freezing in the center of the White Silence, loses gravity and “al most flies as winged Merkury”. 107